A procedure which is routinely performed in physicians' offices in connection with physical examinations involves the testing of the patient's stool for the presence of occult blood. The physician typically will obtain a sample of the patient's stool by probing the patient's rectum with a rubber glove. The sample which is thus obtained is typically tested with guaiac and hydrogen peroxide reagents, which, in the presence of occult blood in the stool sample, will produce a characteristic blue coloration on the paper onto which the stool is smeared.
The obvious discomfort attendant to this type of stool sample gathering has produced a number of alternatives in the prior art. These alternatives involve paraphernalia which the patient takes home from the physician's office, and which the patient uses in the privacy of his home to obtain the stool sample, which is then transmitted back to the physician's office for the testing. This paraphernalia will include a specimen holder of some type, and a device, usually a wooden stick, for obtaining a stool sample after defecation. The sample is obtained from the toilet after defecation and transferred to the specimen holder, which is then returned to the physician's office. The stick is discarded after the stool sample is obtained. U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,006, issued Dec. 7, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,120, issued May 30, 1978; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,550, issued Apr. 22, 1980 are illustrative of such prior art stool sampling devices.